Serving Veterans is a family affair

Across VA, when staff strive to deliver world-class health care, they are expressing the ideal of honoring those who served. For one Bay Pines VA employee, serving Veterans is not just a noble concept: It’s a family affair.

Nurse Aide and transportation worker Chelbie Long says her commitment to serving runs deep. “My mother is a nurse in the Community Living Center (CLC) and my brother serves here as a surgical nurse.”

Although the three of them serve in a medical capacity, Long says the family’s biggest source of inspiration is their patriarch, a Navy World War II Veteran. “My grandfather just turned 97 and is a resident at our CLC. Service is so ingrained in my family. Throughout our history, there has always been someone who’s served in the military.”

Long and her grandfather are pictured above.

In addition to her grandfather, her uncle and cousin also served and are interred at the Bay Pines National Cemetery. Long never enlisted but says she felt a different calling: “My way of giving back is to serve the Veterans in any way I can during one of the most vulnerable times in their life.”

“It takes commitment compassion to care for them.”

Long is assigned to various units throughout the hospital and is responsible for nursing operations as a nursing assistant. She takes that care a step further by listening to the stories of the Veterans in her care.

“The Veterans I care for are a community, so it takes commitment and compassion to successfully care for them. My brothers and I grew up hearing about everything our Veterans have done to protect us and it’s heartwarming to be able to take care of them now,” she said.

Long’s passion for helping Veterans has inspired her career progression and is continuing her education to become a nurse herself.

“I’m following in my mom’s footsteps. I watched her come home every night and saw her level of compassion. After witnessing her commitment and listening to those stories as a child, it’s rewarding to belong to a team that has the same devotion to giving back.”